|
ENFIELD TOWN COUNCIL
MINUTES OF A PUBLIC HEARING
JUNE 21, 2004
A Public Hearing was called to order by Deputy Mayor Fiore in the Council Chambers of the Enfield Town Hall, 820 Enfield Street, Enfield, Connecticut on Monday, June 21, 2004. The Hearing was called to order at 7:15 p.m.
ROLL-CALL - Present were Councilmen Crowley, Dodd, Edgar, Egan, Fiore, Kaupin, Mangini, Peruta, Reveruzzi, and Tait. Mayor Tallarita was absent. Also present were Town Manager, Scott Shanley; Assistant Town Manager, Daniel Vindigni; Town Clerk, Suzanne Olechnicki; Town Attorney, Christopher Bromson; Director of Planning and Community Development, Jose Giner.
Deputy Mayor Fiore read the notice of Public Hearing which was published in the Journal Inquirer on Saturday, June 12, 2004 as follows:
TOWN OF ENFIELD
LEGAL NOTICE
PUBLIC HEARING
MONDAY, JUNE 21, 2004
"The Enfield Town Council will hold a Public Hearing in the Enfield Town Hall, Council Chambers, 820 Enfield Street, Enfield, Connecticut on Monday, June 21, 2004 at 7:15 p.m. to allow interested citizens an opportunity to express their opinions regarding the PROPOSED ORDINANCE CONCERNING THE DESIGNATION OF THE PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION AS THE TOWN'S AQUIFER PROTECTION AGENCY."
Deputy Mayor Fiore announced the ground rules for the Public Hearing.
Mr. Giner explained a proposed ordinance is before the Council and this was revised per the Town Attorney's suggestions and it is ready to be voted upon. He referred to Item #3 within the ordinance - the inventory of land use - and noted this has already been done by the State of Connecticut and he has it. He stated his impression CCM did their job in protecting the Town from unfunded mandates by telling the State to conduct that land use inventory for the Town, therefore, that is one less piece of work that has to be done by the Town.
Charles Woods, 11 Westerly Drive
Stated he spoke about this before and recommended they do not place this under the Planning & Zoning Commission. He referred to the ordinance and the removal of members and pointed out they cannot remove Planning & Zoning Commission members at this time, therefore, what will be done if they want to remove a member of the Aquifer Protection Agency. He stated he doesn't place much trust in P&Z due to the record they have so far, namely, they've been dragging their feet on the heliport issue where theydon't apply the same law to everyone in town, i.e., they gave the heliport to the insurance company, but they don't want to give it to a farmer. He went on to state it was his understanding they weren't going to have any more car-related businesses along Route 5, but they gave LIA permission to have a dealership on Route 5. He stated his belief it borders on some of the ethics when the Chairman of P&Z votes on an item that is in the area that he earns his living, i.e., cars. He feels he should have abstained from any voting during that period of time. Deputy Mayor Fiore requested Mr. Woods refrain from personalities and noted this hearing is related to the aquifer issue. Mr. Woods stated his belief when something is being done wrong in Town, it needs to be identified. He stated his belief P&Z's decisions are bad and he does not trust them to be making the right decisions in the aquifer area itself, and that is why he feels P&Z should not have this responsibility, but rather the Town should have an independent committee for that purpose.
Mr. Giner stated State statutes specify that it has to be an existing Town board because they didn't want another level of approval or bureaucracy for applicants to go through. He noted the choice would obviously be the Inlands/Wetlands or Planning & Zoning Commission. He stated the way this law was set up, it's more of a land use type of control. As concerns membership, there's no provision for removal of members at this time. He noted this ordinance doesn't provide for it and he does not know what it would be for Wetland Commissions.
Councilman Reveruzzi pointed out this commission has to follow the same procedural requirements as Planning & Zoning. He stated it's not laying out a procedure for following that process, but it's just saying that they're concurrent with whatever the Planning and Zoning requirements are.
Deputy Mayor Fiore stated that part of this ordinance is consistent with the Planning & Zoning appointment and removal process.
As no others wished to speak, Deputy Mayor Fiore closed the Public Hearing at 7:24 p.m.
|
|